Brief Description of the Prior Art
Bowling is a popular and widely practiced sport which, to be performed with superior skill, requires very close control of the bowling ball at the time of delivery by means of the arm and the hand by which the ball is gripped. It is necessary in delivering the bowling ball to assure that the ball is released at precisely the right point at the beginning of the alley, and has a proper degree of spin in the proper direction applied thereto in order that it will be most effective in striking critical pins in the pin grouping and, through the spin on the ball, will impart the most effective action to the pins struck by the ball, and those in turn struck by falling pins.
For the purpose of enabling the bowler to more effectively deliver the ball, and more specifically, to achieve the right hand and finger sensitivity, surface contact and grip upon the ball at the time that it is delivered, a number of devices have been proposed for wearing on the hand or wrist at the time of delivering the bowling ball which are claimed by some to permit a more effective and controlled delivery and release of the ball. Such devices have ranged from flexible sheaths into which the fingers are inserted and which cover most of the hand, to straps, rings and other devices placed on one or more fingers to prevent spreading of the fingers, or to interconnect the fingers in some way so as to assure that they remain in an optimized position on the bowling ball at the time of delivery.
One of the more recent proposals in devices of the type under discussion is the bowler's lift ring illustrated and described in De Mire U.S. Pat. No. 3,091,455. The De Mire lift ring is a ring of flexible material which is intended to be placed upon one of the fingers of the bowling hand. Such a ring is provided with a resilient body extending around the finger and having a bottom surface which is especially adapted for cooperative surface engagement with the bowling ball. The lift ring so provided enables the ball to be more easily released, and reduces the fatigue otherwise tending to occur in the finger over extended periods of bowling. The lift ring of De Mire has an axial dimension long enough to permit it to bridge across one joint of a finger on which it is used, but too short to provide any bracing or bridging action across more than one joint of the finger. Moreover, the sizing of the ring must be such, as it is constructed, that it will fit upon the particular finger of a specific bowler who is to use the ring, and is not adaptable to be used on other fingers or on the hands of different bowlers.